Pride & Prejudice

For the past 3 consecutive days, from the telly to newspapers, I've been engulfed in scenes from the Beijing Olympics & Singapore's National day.

No, I'm not going to start comparing the opening ceremony of the Beijing games to our National day parade. That wouldn't be fair as it akins to comparing apple to orange & to hell to anyone who tries to do that. (Yes, I'm referring to you, Simone aka Glenn Ong's schizo personality. Btw get out of of the Morning Express, you've made my Monday morning ride to work very painful).

I've always felt proud to be a Singaporean. Yes, I do have grouses against some actions of the government and some bad habits of fellow Singaporeans. Nevertheless, I know that despite these shortcomings, I grateful for the security, the stable government and the familiarity of my family and friends.

Thou I'm not a China nationality, I'm Chinese in race and I felt a surge of pride sore through me when I saw how beautifully the opening ceremony in Beijing was executed. It's amazing that a country that was so backward just a decade back could put up a show that mirrored or even bettered the ideas & technology that the West, who has been in this "game" much longer. It put to shame the many Westerners who have condemned the notion of the games being held in China. And it sure wasn't surprising to read that some praises from the West were given grudgingly and some were still insistent that the Opening Ceremony sucked. This only further emphasizes their prejudice and lack of objectives.

Having said that, I give the benefit of the doubt that these black sheep do not represent the views of the majority of the West. Seeing tears almost welling up in Michael Phelps' eyes and his emotional expression when the US of A's national anthem was being played after he was awarded his 1st gold medal, it seemed so genuine that the reason he was in Beijing and he won was because of his passion and love of the sport. He did not succumb to the nonsense of Steven Spielberg or Nicolas Sakorzy. It was also a wonderful feeling seeing Larsen Jensen giving Park Tae Hwan a congratulatory hug immediately upon learning that the latter had come in 1st. This is true sportsmanship. No politics to mar the spirit of the Olympics.